Last Week Is Coming Up!

Just some announcements/reminders:

Your last online work is due this Friday, 12/9, by midnight. Please see MyCompLab for instructions (where you should also submit it). Your working folder 3 grade, as previously announced, will be solely based on your online work from Oct. 24 on and the quiz from last class.

I am working on getting grades done for your web projects and revisions of the responses. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to ask for help/feedback on your final essays. You can email me or come to office hours and I will do my absolute best to respond.

AVAILABILITY: I have some time tomorrow to meet with students. If you email me by 6 pm today I will get back to you about arranging a time–most likely  somewhere between 12:00 and 2:30 pm. If you email me with questions or drafts between now and Saturday morning, I should be able to get back to you by Monday morning.

I will have office hours next week Monday 1-2 and Tuesday 8:30-11:30 am. Office hours on Wednesday 12/14 will only be 1-1:20 as the 10:25 class will be meeting at 1:30 that day.

PLEASE CAREFULLY REVIEW INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR FINAL ESSAY & FINAL PORTFOLIO. Failure to hand in any of the required components will result in grade deductions. You will hate losing points just because you are missing something!

Plan for Monday 12/12:

*Presentations

9 am class: Nick, Kait, Janet, Stephanie, Lauren

10:25 am class:  Shannen, Catherine, Melissa, Joe, Kelsey, Ashley

*Class evaluations

*Review final portfolio instructions

Plan for Wednesday 12/14

FINAL PORTFOLIOS/ALL WORK DUE.

LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED, WITH A 20-POINT DEDUCTION OFF YOUR FINAL PORTFOLIO GRADE, UP UNTIL FRIDAY, DEC. 16. ANYTHING NOT RECEIVED BY NOON ON FRIDAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED TOWARDS YOUR FINAL GRADE. PLEASE SUBMIT MAKE-UPS FOR ABSENCES BY WEDNESDAY 12/14.

CLASS MEETING TIMES:

9 am class: Meets at 10:45 am

Presenters:

Chris, Kelsey, Alex, Rosemary, Kara, Liz, Matt

10:25 am class: Meets at 1:30 pm

Presenters:

Jena, Tara, Nikky, Erin, Brianna

WORKING FOLDER 3 GRADE

For the third working folder grade, I will not be collecting notebooks. Instead, the grade will be calculated based on the following:

Oct. 24: MyCompLab work on comma splices

Oct. 31: Blog post–research in colloquial language

Nov. 4: MyCompLab work on dangling & misplaced modifiers

Nov. 21: Choice–2 tutorials & 2 quizzes

Dec. 5: Quiz

Dec. 9: Summary & review of source on presentations

You will receive your working folder 3 grade on Dec. 14.

 

Wednesday, Dec. 7

Grammar & Usage Quiz will cover the following from the Reference Guide:

Chapters 11, 13, 14, 34, 38D, 41.

Any students who want to make up the mini-presentation will be given the opportunity to go in class.

Also, please see previous post for presentation schedule for your class. Student presentations will run Wed 12/7, Monday 12/12 and Wednesday 12/14 (alternate meeting times:  9 am class to meet at 10:45; 10:25 class to meet at 1:30).

I am working on the grades for your web projects and responses. Mainly, you should be working on your final essay & presentation. Please see me to discuss any concerns you have about these assignments or anything else pertaining to the course.

 

For Monday, Dec. 5

For Monday’s class, prepare & print out a draft of your final essay of at least 7 pages (1 ” margins, 12-pt font, double-spaced). Bring to class along with your notebook and writing utensils for an in-class workshop. Anyone failing to bring a printed draft to class will be marked as absent. If you bring fewer than 7 pages, points will be deducted from your final essay grade for each page missing. All drafts will be collected by me for my review at the end of class, so all comments will need to be made on a separate sheet of paper.

Also on Monday, there will be a grammar quiz covering comma usage, dangling & misplaced modifiers, fragments, and word usage (denotation vs connotation). There will be 15 multiple-choice questions.

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, we will begin individual presentations. Presentations are scheduled in alphabetical order. See schedule below.

ONLINE WORK DUE DEC 9: Find & read/view a source about public speaking and/or presentations. Summarize & review the source in a 500 word response. Submit on MyCompLab.

This is your final online assignment for this course.

PRESENTATION SCHEDULE

9 am class:

Wednesday, Dec. 7:

Paxton, Amanda, Courtney, Meaghan, Garrett

Monday, Dec. 12:

Nick, Kait, Janet, Stephanie, Lauren

Wednesday, Dec. 14:

Chris, Kelsey, Alex, Rosemary, Kara, Liz, Matt

10:25 am class:

Wednesday, Dec. 7:

Kaylee, Bobby, Katelyn, Jeremy, Malik

Monday, Dec. 12:

Ashley, Catherine, Melissa, Joe, Kelsey

Wednesday, Dec. 14:

Jena, Tara, Nikky, Erin, Brianna, Shannen

 

 

 

Wed, Nov 30 & Beyond

On Wednesday, the groups we formed today in class will present what they’ve found out about writing in their particular area (social sciences, sciences, humanities, & professional/business). Please bring back your job ads for in-class work.

There will not be a formal evaluation for this mini-project, but it does count towards your attendance & participation grade. If you were absent today and would like an opportunity to make it up, you can do your own presentation on some aspect of writing (for about 2 minutes). Please see me to discuss & schedule this. I will be giving you feedback so that you know what areas you need to improve on for your individual presentations (Dec. 7- Dec. 14).

Also, due Wednesday: Revision of response assignment (via MyCompLab). This is optional if you want to try for a better grade.

NO EXTENSIONS WILL BE GRANTED.

LOOKING AHEAD: On Monday, you are required to bring in a draft of at least 7 pages of your final essay for in-class workshopping. (Must be on hard copy; failure to do so results in being marked absent).

We will start presentations on Dec. 7 and will spend the last three class days on these. Schedule to be posted shortly.

FINAL DUE DATE FOR ALL WORK: Last day of class (Wednesday, Dec. 14). You are welcome to turn in your work any time after Dec. 5. (See Final Portfolio instructions.)

For Monday, Nov 28

Please prepare for class on Monday by doing the following:

Read pp. 49-60 and 97-113 in the Ref Guide.  Bring the Ref Guide to class along with the following:

*instructions for a writing assignment from another class (it is important this is a HARD COPY)

*a job ad for a job you would be interested in applying for at any time in the future

It’s important that you bring the *exact text* of each of these pieces so that we can look carefully at the wording.

Deadline Reminder: If you are revising your response, you need to do so and submit it via MyCompLab by Wednesday, Nov. 30.

Upcoming Due Dates /Class Plans

Monday, Nov. 21: Final edits/additions to research web page due; at this time it will be graded. Also, by today you should have completed 2 tutorials & 2 quizzes on whatever area of weakness you think you need to work on in MyCompLab (pick from Writing, Grammar, or Research issues) [to be discussed in conference].

Class meeting, Monday Nov. 21: Yes, we will be having class! Please bring your Reference Guide for some work on some grammar/style issues. We will also be talking about the final essay & doing some (fun) exercises to get ready to do ORAL PRESENTATIONS.

Please see the Final Portfolio Page for more information.

For the week after Thanksgiving:

On Monday, Nov. 28, you need to have ready at least 5 pages of your draft of your final essay to post to MyCompLab. EVERYONE will be required to read the assigned drafts for the next class for workshops. (More instructions will be given in class).

Wednesday, Nov. 30: Revision of response due via MyCompLab. This revision is *optional* if you want a better grade (I am giving you an estimated/provisional grade in your conferences).  Revision will NOT be accepted after midnight on Nov. 30. At this point you will be given a grade on whatever the most recent submission is.

Some Notes on the Research Project

As you work on finalizing your research web, here are some basic requirements to keep in mind:

1. You must have a separate bibliography page, in correct format (the format is up to you–MLA, APA, or CM). There should be a link to this page from your home page.

2. You should have a minimum of 5 sources in your Bibliography. Two of these sources should be considered scholarly/peer-reviewed, at least one from a scholarly journal. At least one of your five sources should be a book.

3. The total text should have a word count of at least 1,000 words. Bibliography does not count towards this word count. A fairly easy way to do this is to just look at each post/page from the Dashboard, which will give you the word count, and then add it up.

4. All text should be in your own words–not plagiarized!

5. There should be a clear message–make sure you have a clear idea of your primary audience and purpose, and that it is clear what your own position on the material is.

6. The layout and design is up to you (within the confines of the platform), but it should be clear where the information is, how to get around, etc. It’s OK if you have old blog posts from your weekly assignments still there. They won’t be (or shouldn’t be) the first things a viewer will see anyway.

While I expect your webpage to be more or less finished when you present it to me in conference, you will be given the opportunity for final changes and fine-tuning before the final evaluation of it.

NOVEMBER 14-16: Research Web Project Due; Conferences

There will be no class meetings this week. Instead, I will be meeting with you individually. At that time you should present your webpage to me. We will also discuss what you will be doing for your final project and for your  study plan for MyCompLab.

Meetings will be in my office on the second floor of Marcelle Hall (444 Western Ave). Please contact me asap if you cannot make your meeting time or if you are unsure what time you signed up for! Additionally, contact me asap if you missed class today (Wed 11/9) to schedule your conference.If you are late, please come by anyway, as I can often fit in students between other appointments.

There are no other assignments for this week so you can focus on getting your website project completed.

Please stay tuned here for updates/announcements for class on Monday, Nov. 21.

By the way, if you are looking for a makeup for an absence (or just otherwise interested), check out the Frequency North reading Thursday 11/10 by Megan Abbott, a mystery/fiction noir writer. (7:30 pm in Standish).

WEEK OF NOV 7-9

This week we are in the computer labs working on your research projects (see “Research Blog Project” for more info on what we’re doing here).

9 am class: Monday–Lally 32; Wednesday–Lally 48

10:25 am class–Albertus 112 both days

Monday–discuss the principles of web design & web writing; activities to review websites & to plan your own site.

REMINDER: Response essay due by midnight via MyCompLab.

Wednesday–finalizing the structure; adding other elements; making site more reader-friendly.

Recommended reading: Prentice Hall Reference Guide, pp. 36-48 on document design, multimedia presentations, and websites.